Traitor
by GryffindorTom
Summary: Following his return from Shell Cottage, Ron Weasley saves his friend, Harry Potter, from drowning in a lake in the Forest of Dean. What surprise does he have in store for Harry and his girlfriend Hermione Granger?


**Traitor** – Rating **M**

Summary – **Following his return from Shell Cottage, _Ron Weasley_ saves his friend, _Harry Potter_ , from drowning in a lake in the Forest of Dean. What surprise does he have in store for _Harry_ and his girlfriend _Hermione Granger_?**

Pairings – **Harry/Hermione**

Challenge – **Switching Sides Challenge**

Warnings – Contains character death and Ron bashing.

- **Traitor-**

 **Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England**

 **14** **th** **February 1998**

The sword clanged as Ron dropped it. He had sunk to his knees, his head in his arms. He was shaking, but not, Harry realized, from cold. Harry crammed the broken locket into his pocket, knelt down beside Ron, and placed a hand cautiously on his shoulder. He took it as a good sign that Ron did not throw it off.

"After you left," he said in a low voice, grateful for the fact that Ron's face was hidden, "Hermione cried for a week. Probably longer, only she didn't want me to see. There were loads of nights when we never even spoke to each other. With you gone...with you gone I faced up to my feelings about Hermione. How…"

He could not ﬁnish; it was only now that Ron was here again that Harry fully realized how much his absence had cost them.

"I love her and I know she feels the same way about me. It's always been like that, I thought you knew." Harry said, admitting to his friend about how he feels for Hermione. "After…after Christmas Day, I told Hermione how I felt, how I wished I had wished she loved me as much as I did her, then we kissed." Ron did not respond, but turned his face away from Harry and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

Harry got to his feet again and walked to where Ron's enormous rucksack lay yards away, discarded as Ron had run toward the pool to save Harry from drowning. He hoisted it onto his own back and walked back to Ron, who clambered to his feet as Harry approached, eyes bloodshot but otherwise composed.

"I'm sorry," he said in a thick voice. "I'm sorry I left. I know I was a—a—" He looked around at the darkness, as if hoping a bad enough world would swoop down upon him and claim him.

"You've sort of made up for it tonight," said Harry. "Getting the sword. Finishing of the Horcrux. Saving my life."

"That makes me sound a lot cooler than I was," Ron mumbled.

"Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was," said Harry. "I've been trying to tell you that for years."

Simultaneously they walked forward and hugged, Harry gripping the still sopping back of Ron's jacket.

"And now," said Harry as they broke apart, "all we've got to do is ﬁnd the tent again."

But it was not difﬁcult. Though the walk through the dark forest with the doe had seemed lengthy, with Ron by his side the journey back seemed to take a surprisingly short time. Harry could not wait to wake Hermione, and it was with a quickening excitement that he entered the tent. Ron lagging a little behind him.

It was gloriously warm after the pool and the forest, the only illumination through the bluebell ﬂames still shimmering in a bowl on the ﬂoor. Hermione was fast asleep, curled up under her blankets, and did not move until Harry had said her name several times.

"Hermione!" She stirred, then sat up quickly, pushing her hair out of her face. "What's wrong? Harry? Are you all right?"

"It's okay, everything's ﬁne. More than ﬁne. I'm great. There's someone here."

"What do you mean? Who—?" She saw Ron, who stood there holding the sword and dripping onto the threadbare carpet.

Harry suddenly heard a rustling coming from outside of the tent. He went to pull his acquired wand from his pocket, only to find it being summoned away from him by Ron.

"Ron? What are you doing? "Hermione asked, shocked at how Ron had made Harry wandless. "What is wrong with you?"

Ron ignored the bushy haired girl and pulled his sleeve up, revealing a Dark Mark, the sign of a Death Eater, on his arm.

"Ah, you mean me disarming Potter? Well, I guess I can explain it to you." Ron said, smiling. "The Dark Lord made me a better offer than being your sidekick. He wants you Potter, you and the Mudblood alive, and me being his 'best friend' has made it easier for me to follow my masters orders."

"WHAT! I trusted you Ron. You were my best friend!" Harry shouted.

"It was good to see that you loosened Granger up." Ron said. "I bet she is a whore in the sack!"

Hermione slapped her former friend, getting annoyed with him, and his attitude towards her, grabbing her boyfriend's wand from the redhead. Passing it to Harry, she saw him twist it, casting a nonverbal stunner at the youngest Weasley male.

Suddenly the couple were silent, hearing voices from outside.

"Quiet Scabior. Weasley has got Potter and that Mudblood cornered." the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange came from outside the tent. "You and Fenrir stand guard, just in case they escape from the rear."

Harry and Hermione revived their former friend, intent on interrogating him.

"How long Ronald?" Hermione asked, putting her wand against his neck. "How long have you been a Death Eater?"

"Since a week before Potter decided to start shagging my sister." Ron said. "Draco cornered me as I followed him whilst he was heading to the Room of Requirement. We had a discussion and I joined up.

"I was getting fed up of being in Potters shadow." the redhead continued. "He has the ear of my parents, my sister's virginity and also the love of my brothers. He also has you hanging on every word that his lordship dares to speak."

Harry was fuming. Ron had accused him of having sex with Ginny, who he had only kissed as they had agreed not to go too far during the current state of war. Whilst the three were conversing, Lestrange sneaked into the tent, being careful because of her pregnancy.

Suddenly Ron lunged for the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry following him in the lunge intent on grabbing it from the floor where it had rested, when they saw the former Black taking hold of it.

Bellatrix swung the sword at Harry, whose seeker reflexes allowed him to dive out of the way to avoid being stabbed, with the sword fatally cutting Ron instead. Seeing that she had killed her fellow Death Eater, she was in shock.

' _The Dark Lord is going to kill me. Even though I am carrying his baby, I am going to end up dead._ ' She thought. Suddenly she saw Hermione aim her wand, the reductor curse being the cause of her final ever breath.

Hermione looked at Harry and sighed. They knew they had a long way to go, but they hoped that the rest of their friends would not have betrayed them.

For Ron Weasley though, he would forever be known as a traitor.

 **-** **Traitor** **-**

 **A/N** – This story uses themes and characters from the **Harry Potter** series by JK Rowling, whose rights as author are respected. Some of this chapter uses text adapted from **Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.**

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